A Yard and a Half Traditional Cache
Lorgadh: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.
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Karen
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A small and easy 'cache and dash' which highlights the glory days of Helensburgh's railway history. Please note that the cache is not located at ground level.
This is a small magnetic container with room for a log and very small items, e.g. small geocoins or dead spiders... Please take care when replacing the cache, ensuring it is secure but not inaccessible to the next visitor. BEWARE OF MUGGLES IN CARS!
It's a sad fact that the modern British railway is a pale reflection of it's glory days, and Helensburgh Central Station serves as a poignant reminder of this.
The station itself historically provided goods transport as well as passengers and had more platforms, as well as associated sidings and sheds for locomotives. These were located in what are now the grounds of the nearby supermarket, Health Centre and associated car parks.
The photo below is from the late 1950's and shows a view from beneath the footbridge at the far end of the station platform 3 looking west, and clearly shows the complexity of additional tracks as well as shed "65H". If the shed was still there, this cache would currently be located in it's rafters!
Sadly, over the decades, a number of events took their toll on Helensburgh Central's prominence as a transport hub - the increased use of road transport, the withdrawal of small, local rail services and goods trains in the 1960's, prompted by the infamous "Beeching Axe", as well as the closure of nearby Craigendoran Pier (which attracted steamboat services popular with Glasgow daytrippers heading "doon the watter"), all meant that the stations grand days were numbered.
Skip forward to November 1970 when the yard was officially closed, and to the picture below which was taken in 1974. This similar viewpoint is again looking back towards the station from the footbridge. By this time, only a couple of sidings are visible, and the yard buildings are sadly long gone.
The picture below is from 1979, and shows trains (middle right of picture) sitting on the sidings which survived for a few more years before a supermarket was finally built on the site in 1985, and the Health Centre in 1996. This photo also shows an additional platform (far left of picture) which also no longer exists.
It's hard to imagine the site as it must have been in it's heyday, but if you listen hard enough, perhaps you'll hear the chuff of an old steam engine, or the whistle of a departing train as it puffs eastwards... If you are interested in finding out more about the history of rail in Helensburgh, have a look at the following link to get you started.
http://www.helensburgh-heritage.co.uk/pdfs/Helensburgh%20Railway%20history.pdf
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Enzc hc gur rkpvgrzrag, vg'f nggenpgvir jvgu n evtug fhccbegvir obggbz!